An entire Arctic ecosystem could vanish within the next decade

The Barents Sea, home to a diverse array of wildlife, could be completely gone in just a few years – perhaps the most dramatic impact of climate change yet seen

Waves crash along the coast of the Barents Sea

Franz Aberham/Getty

By Andy Coghlan

An entire Arctic ecosystem suddenly started shrinking within the last 10 years and could be gone within another decade. The collapse could be the largest, fastest impact of climate change seen to date.

“It could happen within the next few years, or within 10 or 20 years,” says lead author Sigrid Lind of the Institute of Marine Research in Tromsø, Norway. “We can’t say precisely.”

The region in question is the Barents Sea, a stretch of ocean covering 1.6 million square kilometres between the Arctic …